WP Engine Honored with Mosaic Award for Diversity and Inclusion

WP Engine has been awarded a Mosaic Award for Diversity and Inclusion, an honor that recognizes businesses and individuals whose commitment to creating a more diverse and inclusive workplace is evident through their creative efforts and organization-wide initiatives. 

Named as this year’s Mosiac Award Winner for Mid-Size Business, WP Engine joined fellow award winners Dell Technologies (Large Business), Impact Hub (Small Business), The Riveter (Startups), Latinitas (Nonprofits), DivInc (Accelerators), as well as individuals Elisa Sepulveda (On The Rise Award) and Colette Pierce Burnette (Legacy Award). 

The awards, now in their second year, were started by founders Janice Omadeke and Naji Kelley, who noticed an overarching need for more diversity and inclusion in the tech industry through action (not just photos of diverse team members or other marketing efforts). 

This year’s awards, which were announced at Google’s downtown Austin offices on Thursday night, were derived from community nominations. The finalists were selected by a panel of judges.

At WP Engine, diversity and inclusion initiatives take on many forms. At the very top, our Core Values inform many of these efforts and help cultivate and maintain a strong company culture that fosters diversity, equality, and authenticity in the workplace.

WP Engine also encourages a growing list of  Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), which are able to advocate for each and every one of our team members. Represents, for example, is a WP Engine ERG created in 2018, with the goal of increasing awareness of the different perspectives and experiences faced by underrepresented racial and ethnic groups within the tech industry today, all with a focus on increasing the number of opportunities for all. 

Additionally, in an effort to combat the problem of underrepresentation in the tech industry and to avoid common biases in the workplace, WP Engine emphasizes hiring for skills and culture-fit rather than relying on traditional, hard-line prerequisites. 

For example, our engineering team employs a double-blind interview process to ensure recruiting and hiring decisions are made based primarily on performance. In addition, our sales team recently unveiled a new, initial employment assessment that helps our recruiters objectively look at candidates with any sales background (no tech experience necessary) to determine if candidates from non-traditional sales backgrounds might be a good fit for our sales organization.

While the above is just a sample of the diversity and inclusion initiatives WP Engine has undertaken, we’re always fine-tuning the process and looking for new ways to make sure we’re creating a diverse workplace where people can authentically be themselves.